Amjyot Singh led Team Hamamatsu through to finals of FIBA 3×3 World Tour Final

Gopal is an independent basketball writer based out of Bangalore whose articles have appeared in print publications such as Hindu Business Line, Fountain Ink and The Caravan. He also contributes to online platforms sportskeeda.com, tadpoles.in and The Alternative. Email: gopal@ekalavyas.com

India international basketball player Amjyot Singh Gill, who has also entered his name in this year’s NBA D-League draft, is competing at the FIBA 3×3 World Tour Finals in Abu Dhabi, UAE on 27-28 October.

The FIBA 3×3 World Tour Finals is a hugely prestigious event and is the equivalent of a World Cup for 3×3 basketball for professional players.

The team comprises 2 other Indian-origin players: Inderbir Singh Gill (USA) and Bikramjit Gill (Canada) apart from a fourth from Japan.

The three Indian players (aka ‘Team Gill’) had trained at the world-class Jaypee Greens facility in Greater Noida before flying out to Abu Dhabi.

Chihiro Ikeda of Team Hamamatsu is ecstatic after the quarterfinal win over Chicago. Hamamatsu would later go on to stun Novi Sad in the semifinals.

The finals will be played at 10:50 pm IST tonight between Hamamatsu and the winner of the ongoing second semifinals between Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Caguas (Puerto Rico).

Hamamatsu progressed to the finals in style, beating the two time defending champions Novi Sad Alwahda, UAE 21-14 in the semifinals. Novi Sad had won its first World Tour Finals in 2014 representing its home country of Serbia, before winning it as Novi Sad Alwahda, UAE in 2015.

Earlier in the evening, Hamamatsu had outclassed the supremely talented and odds on favourite Chicago 21-16 in the quarterfinals, to set up its semifinals date vs Novi Sad.

Hamamatsu bt Novi Sad 21-14 (Semifinals)

Amjyot with the chase down block on Dusan Bulut of Novi Sad. Image credit- FIBA 3×3.

Hamamatsu started off sensationally, raking up a 5-0 lead courtesy back to back opening buckets by Bikramjit followed by an effortless three pointer from the top of the key by Amjyot. Chihiro followed with a sweet layup, before Novi Sad opened scoring with a fabulous reverse layup, after going scoreless for almost the first two minutes.

Amjyot then had a ridiculous chase down block on Dusan Bulut, the number 1 ranked 3×3 player in the world, before Novi Sad mounted a comeback to make it a one possession game (trailing 8-10) with 5:39 mins remaining.

Soon Inderbir isolated his man on the left wing before knocking down a tough three pointer. Amjyot followed with a baseline fadaway right at the shotclock buzzer. At this point, Hamamatsu led 15-12. Both teams seemed visibly drained by the effort put out on the floor. Novi Sad in particular was extremely aggressive in guarding Hamamatsu right from the perimeter. But that in turn led to Novi Sad being called for two quick fouls on the floor, for a total of 6 team fouls, ominously close to the 7 team fouls mark that would send them over the limit.

Inderbir continued playing the point guard role to perfection, with a beautiful pocket pass to the cutting Bikramjit. Chihiro followed up with a made freethrow to give Hamamatsu a 17-14 lead. That’s when Bikramjit took over, knocking down back to back threes to help his side reach the winning 21 point mark and close out the huge victory with 1:30 mins still remaining.

“We feel good (about this win) but it is not over yet. We knew we had to play the perfect game to beat them and I feel we did that,” said Inderbir in a post match interview to FIBA 3×3.

Hamamatsu bt Chicago 21-16 (Quarterfinals)

Coming into this game, Hamamatsu was 2-0 from its Pool C preliminary round matches, while Chicago (Pool B) was 1-1.

Displaying perfect harmony in both defence and attack, Hamamatsu got off to a great start. Inderbir got a steal which quickly translated into a fadeaway jumper by Amjyot who then followed it up with a three pointer. Soon a huge slam dunk by Amjyot gave Hamamatsu a 4-1 lead. Chicago, though, is known to be a slow starter and began to get into a rhythm. Mychael Henry made the play of the game with a monstrous alley-oop throwdown that had the crowd on its feet. Thanks to Henry’s continued aggression, Chicago tied the game at 7-7 with 6:46 mins left. Inderbir then showed his credentials as a two-way player, making a tough reverse layup before ‘dropping the chair’ on defence to force the violation by Chicago. Next he combined well with forward Bikramjit on the pick and roll, finding Bikram for a two handed dunk.

With the game tied at 9-9, a collision between Inderbir and Stefhon Hannah forced Hannah out of the game with a bloodied right cheek. Hamamatsu meanwhile capitalized, building a 15-13 lead before Hannah checked back in. But by then Hamamatsu had taken over, first with a long two by Amjyot followed by a three pointer by Bikram to give the side a crucial 19-16 lead.

Inderbir had the chance to win the game but missed a wide open three, but supersub Chihiro came on to finish the match by converting both his foul shots.

Inderbir Gill combined well with Bikramjit on the pick and roll. Image credit- FIBA.com.

About the 2016 FIBA 3×3 World Tour

Abu Dhabi Finals

There will be 12 teams competing in the World Tour Finals, divided into 4 Pools of three teams each:

The teams within each pool will play against each other in a round-robin first round. The top two placed teams from each pool advance to a standard knock-out round which starts at the quarter-finals stage. The winners are crowned FIBA 3×3 World Tour champions and earn a ticket to the FIBA 3×3 All Stars.

How to Watch

For those not attending the games at the Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex in Zayed Sports City (free entrance) – the games will be available from 17.00 local time (GMT+4) on Thursday 27 October live on FIBA 3×3’s official YouTube channel and Facebook Live. The top-two placed teams from each pool advance to a standard knock-out round which starts at the quarter-finals stage, from 17.00 local time on Friday 28.

Qualification Rounds

The FIBA 3×3 World Tour Abu Dhabi Final features the winner of the 7 stops, (Mexico DF, Utsunomiya, Prague, Lausanne, Debrecen, Beijing and Rio de Janeiro) plus the 5 best teams in the World Tour standings at the end of the season (between 5 and 11 depending if a team has won more than one Masters).

The Amjyot starring Team Hamamtsu qualified via the latter route, having finished 6th in the first Utsunomiya leg (30-31 July) followed by a 3rd place finish at the Beijing leg (16-17 September). This gave them an overall world ranking of 11 (as of 17.10.2016 at the time of the draw) to make the cut in the 12-team field at the World Tour Finals.

About FIBA’s 3×3 Basketball Programme

3×3 basketball is already today the number one urban team sport in the world. (*According to an IOC-commissioned study.)

In line with FIBA’s vision to make basketball the most popular sports community in the world, FIBA is embracing 3×3 with the aim of further promoting, uniting and developing the game of basketball. FIBA believes that 3×3 presents an excellent opportunity to attract new people to basketball and to raise awareness that everyone can play basketball, anywhere in the world. Embracing an additional stand-alone discipline offers the opportunity to extend the reach of participating or hosting countries in international competitions.

FIBA’s vision is to establish a pro FIBA 3×3 World Tour that allows 3×3 stars to make a living out of 3×3. Create the largest sports community in the world by having all 3×3 events worldwide included on 3x3planet.com.

The team which scores 21 points or more within the match duration, wins the game. If neither team is able to reach 21 points, then the team with the higher points after the conclusion of 10 minutes is declared the winner.

Scoring:

Traditional three point shots from behind the arc will be awarded 2 points.

Every shot inside the arc is awarded 1 point.

Every successful freethrow is awarded 1 point.

If the scores are tied, then an extra period of time is played. Here the first team to score 2 points in overtime wins the game.

Following each successful field goal or made free throw, a player from the non-scoring team will resume the game by dribbling or passing the ball from inside the court directly underneath the basket (not from behind the end line) to a place on the court behind the arc.

If the defensive team steals or blocks the ball, it must return the ball behind the arc (by passing or dribbling).

About Amjyot Singh Gill

The 6ft 9inch Gill made the entire Indian sports fraternity take notice when he slammed home a powerful two handed alley-oop dunk during India’s historic win over China in the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup. Since then, the 24-year-old “Sultan of Swat” has grown from strength to strength. As a “stretch four” Amjyot is a matchup nightmare, able to post up, rebound, block shots, handle the ball and score from the outside.

The versatile power forward went on a scoring spree during India’s memorable quarterfinal run in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship for Men, proving himself to be among Asia’s finest hoopsters. 2016 proved to be an equally significant year, as he, along with fellow Punjab baller, Amritpal Singh, made the brave decision of moving to Japan. The duo led their Tokyo Excellence team to the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) Championship. Amjyot in particular, averaged 13.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per game over 35 games, playing 21 minutes per game.

Most recently, Amjyot had starred at the FIBA Asia Challenge, posting tournament high numbers in various key statistical categories. Amjyot was number 1 overall in freethrow shooting (90.3%) hitting 28/31 freethrows. His 8.3 rpg was 3rd among forwards and 8th overall. His 2 double doubles (i.e. when a player crossed double digits in any two statistical categories in a single game) was 3rd among forwards and 7th overall. His 12.8 ppg was 6th best among forwards. His .6 blocks per game is 3rd best among forwards. His +14.1 effpg is 6th best among forwards. His 2.4 apg is 5th best among forwards. His 37% from the field is 10th among forwards.

About Pursuit

Amjyot Singh Gill is represented by Pursuit, India’s leading basketball talent management and scouting entity. Pursuit’s aim is to find and create the right opportunities for budding athletes with the talent and potential to succeed at the international level. Through its grassroots network, Pursuit is able to spot athletic talent from a young age and help them along their playing careers, whether in India or abroad. Pursuit is headed by Vishnu Ravi Shankar and is India’s pre-eminent and pioneering basketball scouting and talent management agency.